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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevention-concordat-for-better-mental-health-consensus-statement/prevention-concordat-for-better-mental-health

About the Concordat

The Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health is underpinned by an understanding that taking a prevention-focused approach to improving the public’s mental health is shown to make a valuable contribution to achieving a fairer and more equitable society. The Concordat promotes evidence based planning and commissioning to increase the impact on reducing health inequalities. The sustainability and cost effectiveness of this approach will be enhanced by the inclusion of action that impacts on the wider determinants of mental health and wellbeing.

The Concordat is intended to provide a focus for cross-sector action to deliver a tangible increase in the adoption of public mental health approaches across:

local authorities

the NHS

public, private and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations

educational settings

employers

It acknowledges the active role played by people with lived experience of mental health problems, individually and through user led organisations.

This definition of the Concordat has been agreed by the organisations listed at the end of this document. It represents a public mental health informed approach to prevention, as outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View, and promotes relevant NICE guidance and existing evidence based interventions and delivery approaches, such as ‘making every contact count’.

Consensus statement

This consensus statement describes the shared commitment of the organisations signed below to work together via the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health, through local and national action, to prevent mental health problems and promote good mental health.

The undersigned organisations agree that:

To transform the health system, we must increase the focus on prevention and the wider determinants of mental health. We recognise the need for a shift towards prevention-focussed leadership and action throughout the mental health system; and into the wider system. In turn, this will impact positively on the NHS and social care system by enabling early help through the use of upstream interventions.

There must be joint cross-sectoral action to deliver an increased focus on the prevention of mental health problems and the promotion of good mental health at local level. This should draw on the expertise of people with lived experience of mental health problems, and the wider community, to identify solutions and promote equality.

We will promote a prevention-focused approach towards improving the public’s mental health, as all our organisations have a role to play.

We will work collaboratively across organisational boundaries and disciplines to secure place-based improvements that are tailored to local needs and assets, in turn increasing sustainability and the effective use of limited resources.

We will build the capacity and capability across our workforce to prevent mental health problems and promote good mental health, as outlined in the Public Mental Health Leadership and Workforce Development Framework Call to Action1.

We believe local areas will benefit from adopting the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health.

We are committed to supporting local authorities, policy makers, NHS clinical commissioning groups and other commissioners, service providers, employers and the voluntary and community sector to adopt this Concordat and its approach.

Signatories

This first Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health was co-produced by: